Bengaluru: Hours before the arrival of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Mandya for the launch of a few schemes on Friday, a farmer committed suicide in the district allegedly depressed over his ill-health and mounting debts, adding to the woes of the coalition government, already grappling with the crisis following a standoff between sugarcane farmers and factory owners.
The farmer, Jayakumar (43) of Kannahatti village in Mandya taluk was reportedly suffering from throat cancer and did not have the money he needed for his treatment. Before he killed himself by consuming poison in his fields, he reportedly wrote a suicide note to the CM to pay compensation for his death. There were unconfirmed reports that another farmer, Biliyaiah, 60, of Taggahalli village in Mandya had committed suicide on Friday.
Close friends of Jayakumar, who grew sugarcane and vegetables on his 35 guntas of land, said that he had taken a loan of Rs 2.8 lakh for his farming and his troubles increased after he was recently diagnosed with throat cancer as he did not have the Rs 3 lakh he needed for treatment.
“Jayakumar was dejected with life, but never discussed his personal problems with anyone. He suffered silently and when he realised he had cancer, he took the extreme decision to end his life to claim the compensation from the government for the future of his family,” added his friends.
As news of the farmer’s suicide spread there was tension in Kannahatti village with the people demanding that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy personally visit the village to pay his last respects to him.
Although Mandya district-in-charge Minister C.S. Puttaraju rushed to the village on hearing the news, the people refused to allow the police to shift the farmer’s body to the Mandya district hospital for the postmortem till the arrival of the Chief Minister himself.
It was only after Mr Puttaraju announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh from the district administration and another Rs 5 lakh from his personal fund for farmer Jayakumar’s family and promised to take care of the education of his children, that the people of the village allowed the body to be taken for postmortem.
